Wondering, on Wednesday (v33)

Like most folks, I'm very aware that Father's Day is looming on the horizon. In case I ever want to know when it is, I simply have to look in my inbox or spam folders; since Sunday, I have received at least 50 emails about Father's Day gifts, ways to celebrate, and my favorite, "Don't Forget Dad!"

I can assure you I'll never forget my father. I've written about him in these pages before, and talk to him frequently. He's with me every day of my life, even though he's been gone now eight years. He was outspoken when he thought it was the right thing to do; he had an unerring sense of right and wrong; and, he had a great sense of humor including the ability to laugh at himself.

He would probably tell me to just ignore the retailers trumpeting Dad Dad Dad from the rooftops in order to make an extra sale or two, but I'm wondering, on this Wednesday, what he'd think if I were to answer all of those 50-odd emails, telling whoever read them exactly how unforgettable he is, and asking them to tell me about their unforgettable dad? What kind of stories would I get in return?

Maybe I'd hear from someone who 'lost' their dad in a transgender transition, someone like the Jenner kids who had Bruce and now have Caitlyn. I can't imaging living through that privately, much less publicly, but I suppose to a family that lives their lives for the cameras, a family that continuously, unabashedly self-promotes to extremes never before seen, maybe it doesn't matter that everyone is staring in their windows at this difficult time.

Or maybe, I'd hear about someone with a dad like Bob Costas, a man with an opinion lots of things, including the 'promotion' of Ms. Jenner.

Seems that ESPN has decided to bestow this year's Arthur Ashe Award on Jenner.  Ashe, you may remember, was a tennis star back in the 60's and 70's, winning both the US Open and Wimbledon, and was at one point ranked number one in the world, all 'firsts' for a black man. Ashe had health problems, including two heart surgeries, brain surgery, and, ultimately, a diagnosis of AIDS stemming from tainted blood he received during one of the surgeries. He was an activist and a role model, and the Award named for him is all about courage, according to ESPN:

The Ashe Award is one of the most prestigious in sports. Recipients reflect the spirit of Arthur Ashe, possessing strength in the face of adversity, courage in the face of peril and the willingness to stand up for their beliefs no matter what the cost...

Among the previous winners are Nelson Mandela, Muhammad Ali, Billie Jean King, the four guys from Flight 93, Tommie Smith and John Carlos (the fists-raised-on-the-medal-stand folks from the '68 Olympics), friendly fire victim Pat Tillman (who has an award named after him), Jim Valvano,and Pat Summit.

Costas, a sportscaster for NBC, is not impressed with ESPN's decision to honor Jenner.

It strikes me that awarding the Arthur Ashe award to Caitlyn Jenner is just a crass exploitation play. It's a tabloid play. In the broad world of sports, I'm pretty sure they could have found - and this is not anything against Caitlyn Jenner - I'm pretty sure they could have found someone who was much closer to actively involved in sports, who would have been deserving of that what award represents. That's not to say that it doesn't take some measure of personal courage to do what Caitlyn Jenner has done, but I think that every year we look across the landscape of sports, and we find prominent people and kids in high school and amateur athletes who I think more closely fit the description of what they're looking for there. 

Honestly, what do you think of Costas's comments? Did ESPN punch their ticket on the Kardashian/Jenner gravy train by selecting Caitlyn as this year's winner?  Is she even still thought of as a 'sports' figure, or simply a Hollywood creation?  Do people even eat Wheaties anymore?  And, I'm wondering how long it'll take before NBC chastises Costas?

One thing I don't have to wonder about, though - I know my Dad would agree with Costas on this one. And so do I.

Tuesday's Number: ($14,612)

We've reached a milestone! 

That headline is not a typo: the satisfied judgments are higher than the new judgments, and so for the first time ever, we have a net negative Tuesday's Number.

Tuesday is the day my local paper, the Syracuse Post-Standard, publishes the weekly business section. In addition to special features, tips from stock experts, budgeting advice and the like, we get the judgment and bankruptcy listings.

Since mid-2012, I’ve been tracking health care related filings. I include anything that is clearly a debt owed to a hospital, nursing home, physician or physician group, medical supplier, and so on; I do not include filings by insurance companies, many of which are so diversified it would not be a fair assumption that the filing is related to medical care or health insurance. 

• This week, there was one new judgment for hospitals, doctors, or other medical providers totaling $11,555.
• There were three satisfied judgments, for $26,167.
• And there were no bankruptcies listed.

By hospital, here’s the breakdown:

• Crouse gets a credit of $11,822, with one satisfied judgment.
• SUNY gets a credit of $2,790; they had the single new listing and two judgments repaid. 
• St. Joseph’s and Community (part of Upstate), had no filings.

Regular readers know that I subtract satisfied judgments from the overall totals and from the individual hospital totals; the likelihood is that they’ve already been incorporated into the numbers at some point now, since I’ve been tracking this for two and a half years. 

For the first six weeks of this quarter, the average weekly Tuesday's Number was $444,750. The total of new filings over the past four weeks has only been $216,838. I'm not so naive to think we have finally, officially turned the corner, but it's been exciting to see the numbers finally going in the right direction.  We'll have to see how the quarter closes out and the summer progresses. 

The paper publishes only those accounts of at least $5,000.

Cuomo's Maximum Security Failure

Tonight, there's gonna be a jailbreak, somewhere in the town. Tonight there's gonna be a jailbreak, so don't you be around.  Don't you be around. ~Philip Parris Lynott

So went the lyrics to the Thin Lizzy classic, and so was the case in the northern New York town of Dannemora, home of the Clinton Correctional Facility last Friday.

The prison, the largest and third oldest maximum security prison in NY, hadn't had an escape before -- and this one was a doozie.  Two murderers, heinous criminals, cut through steel and brick walls, made it through a steam pipe and along a rarely used catwalk, then cut through a chain and lock before popping up from a manhole cover outside the prison walls.  And left a note encouraging those who found it to "have a nice day."

One would be hard-pressed to think anything other than these guys had an angel on the inside, someone who at the very least facilitated getting them the power tools they used, if not more than that. It's hard to imagine how they could have had the time to do that much work, without making any noise, and without attracting any attention. Someone -- guards, other prisoners, contractors -- someone had to know something.

The State has offered a $100,000 reward for the apprehension of both men, or $50,000 each, which is almost as extraordinary as the prison break itself.

And the news media has been all over the trip made by Andrew Cuomo, New York's Sonofa Gov, to Dannemora, where he largely traced the path the convicts did in their escape. Cuomo had been keeping a fairly light schedule of late, instead spending time with his long-time partner Sandra Lee, who is undergoing treatment for breast cancer.

One member of the media who was not impressed with Cuomo's trip was a semi-local afternoon radio talk show host here in Syracuse (I say semi local because the same guy does four hours in the morning at a station in Rochester, "here's the deal" insert fake voice here). The talker today placed blame for the prison break (and all related activities including multiple rapes, robberies and homicides of ordinary people or law enforcement officials which the escapees may have already committed or may commit in the future before they get caught) directly on the shoulders of the governor.

That's right. It's the Governor's fault.

• It doesn't have anything to do with the two guys themselves, who figured out a plan, and apparently found someone to assist them.
• It doesn't have anything to do with the people who work at the prison, whether Department of Corrections employees or contractors, who likely provided the tools, maybe a map of the prison's underbelly, and whatever type of distractions or 'cover' were needed during the time at which the guys were cutting their way out.  
• It doesn't have anything to do with people who might currently be hiding the convicts, if that's the case.  

Nope, it's the Sonofa Gov's fault because he's 'in charge' of the Department of Corrections.

If the escapees get apprehended on the NYS Thruway, would Cuomo get credit for that, since he's 'in charge' of the Thruway Authority?  Or if the NY State Police apprehend these guys, that's because of Cuomo, right? He's 'in charge' of the state police, after all.

I'm not Andrew Cuomo's biggest fan, but this one's not on him.  Place the blame where the blame lies.

Oh - and have a nice day.

Three Cheers for a Triple Crown?

When I was a kid, my sports hero was Carl Yastrzemski, beloved #8 of the Boston Red Sox.  I think I became a Sox fan because my one-year-older brother was one, and it seemed like the right thing to do.  I'm still one (insert snarky Yankee fan laughter here), and still think that Yaz was one of the best ever, even though he never won a World Series.

He did, however, win baseball's batting Tripe Crown, for having the most home runs, most RBIs, and highest batting average.  He also won the MVP that year, 1967.  Yaz's record stood until 2012, when Miguel Cabrera completed the almost impossible feat.  In all the years that baseball has been around, there have been only seventeen batting Triple Crowns, won by only fifteen people.  Paul Hines, 1878. Tip O'Neill, 1887. Hugh Duffy, 1894. Nap Lajoie, 1901. Ty Cobb, 1909. Rogers Hornsby, 1922 and 1925. Jimmy Fox (AL) 1933. Chuck Klein (NL), 1933. Lou Gehrig, 1934. Joe Medwick, 1937. Teddy Ballgame, 1942 and 1947. Mickey Mantle, 1956. Frank Robinson, 1966. Yaz.  And Cabrera.

I loved that, as the years went by, no one managed to to what my hero did. Forty-five years of Yaz sitting at the top of the heap, watching challengers (and cheaters) fail to match his success across three very different measures: the long ball, the ability to bring in men on base in front of you (which doesn't always require power), and consistency over the entire season.

I was sad when Cabrera won it in 2012, not just because it was Yaz's record that stood for so long, but because I liked that no one won it for so long. I like that it's not something that just anyone wins, that it's not an everyday occurrence.  The only thing that made it remotely OK was that Cabrera didn't play for the Evil Empire.

Similarly, I'm one of those cantankerous folks who has hoped, openly or quietly, that we don't have a horse racing Triple Crown winner.  I think the closest I came to rooting for a horse to win the race was in '03 when Funny Cide, the 'local boy', had a chance.  I cheered for him, our New York horse, I really did -- but with fingers crossed that he would not be successful, that the classic races in 1978 between Affirmed and Alydar would still be sitting at the top of the list when the dust settled.

Today, American Pharaoh will have a chance to break a thirteen-horse losing streak as he takes on seven potential heartbreakers in the Belmont. That's right: Pharaoh is the fourteenth horse to come into New York having won both the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness, and he's the odds-on betting favorite, as were his predecessors.

Pharaoh's trainer, Bob Baffert, knows the feeling of this moment better than anyone. He's been here four times -- four! -- with a Derby/Preakness winner staring at history, and coming up short. It's almost agonizing to watch the footage as his great and talented horses, ridden by great and talented jockeys, have fallen short, as many great players have fallen short of the magical batting Triple Crown.

The colt is running against a field of seven, five of whom did not race in the Preakness. Some say that's not right, that if any horse is to take down a potential Triple Crown winner, it should be one who has suffered through the two previous races, not one coming off a long rest. I guess, but they're three separate races; would it be necessary, for example, if a pro golfer won the first three majors of the year, that anyone who plays against him in the fourth must have played in the first three?  I don't buy that.

Sir Barton, 1919. Gallant Fox, 1930. Omaha, 1935. War Admiral, 1937. Whirlaway, 1941. Count Fleet, 1943. Assault, 1946. Citation, 1948. Secretariat, glorious Secretariat,  1973. Seattle Slew, 1977. Affirmed, ridden by 18-year-old Steve Cauthen, 1978.

Is 2015 horse-racing's 2012?  Is it time to let someone else sit on top of the world? I'm not sure. I might actually root for American Pharaoh this afternoon, but if I were to hazard a guess, I'd bet there'll be some at least gently crossed fingers hidden behind my back.

Fighting Back Against a Hack Attack

Another day, another announcement that some major US institution of the retail, insurance, entertainment or governmental variety has been hacked.

Usually, by the time we hear about it, the security breach is over and the perpetrators are not resting on their laurels but instead, deep into planning their next foray into everything we hold sacred: our social security numbers, birth dates, naked selfies, financial information, emails, and, at least in my case, the fact that I love Chocolate Silk (that's coffee, not a lingerie preference or anything like that).

The latest one, an attack on the federal Office of Personnel Management (OPM) that apparently happened last December and was only discovered this April, is said to have been initiated by China, and comes on the heels of Russia sticking its official nose into emails at the State Department and the White House. (We haven't heard of any emails on Hillary Clinton's personal server being compromised; I wonder who handles her data security?)

As I've noted in the past, I've been hit in at least two of these things. Somehow I seem to have missed out on the Home Depot breach which is surprising given how often we shopped there, and the rest of my transactions seem to have been fairly well protected. As far as I know, anyway.

While our government and other targets have been quick to identify who the perps are, and confidently point to Russia, China and of course North Korea on the infamous SONY breach, we don't seem to be even half as adept at preventing the darn things from happening in the first place.

And of course, we have no idea how the information that's been compromised will be used, or even if it will ever be used.

Cyber attacks, like any other kind of terrorism, are successful even if the information never sees the light of day, because what's compromised for all who get caught up in this is our feeling of security, of safety, and the fact that, no matter what, some troll in a basement, dormitory, or sweatshop hack factory in a foreign land can nose around in our electronic underwear drawer almost at will and we, sitting in the greatest country in the world, are helpless to prevent it.

But then, are we realty helpless?  Really helpless?  Or, are we merely convinced we're helpless because we are portrayed as such by friend and foe alike?

What if we, as consumers and employees and dammit as Americans just stepped away from our laptops and notebooks, our smart phones and app-laden watches, our microchips and hi-tech glasses, and coerced our driverless cars to take to the shoulder, and we all pulled a 'Network'?

I mean, if we all went Peter Finch on every website we do business with, and we demanded our employers took better care of our data, and we required our insurance companies and financial institutions to prove they cared about us and our personal information as much as they say they do, could it make a difference?

Or, if that won't work, what if we stopped doing business electronically, and decided our financial security, our personal security, the names and birth dates of our pets and children, the make and model of our first car or our elementary school best friend's name, or any special phone number we remember from childhood were actually important to us?

What if we decided that it was worth it to carry cash and actually pay for stuff the old fashioned way, where you all had to know to protect yourself from getting ripped off was how to count change?  

What if we conscientiously made the choice that instead of shopping at big retailers, we would search out and patronize local stores and yes, paid more for the privilege of becoming known to the shop owners? If they know that I'm me because I shop there all the time, there's not much chance that you're going to pull off a switcheroo, even if you're a rat bastard and physically have my credit card in your hand.

Or, finally, here's perhaps an only slightly more ridiculous idea: from now on, I'm only doing business with folks who encrypt their data in a random, ever-changing combination of baby talk, late 70's jive, and Navajo.

Are you with me?

Wondering, on Wednesday (v32)

Get your GPS out, I have a feeling one of the things I'll be wondering about, this Wednesday, is how to bring it all back home.

If you've ever spent any time reading comments, tweets or posts on social media, you've probably seen a barrage of  "This (town/city/state/country) sucks, can't wait to get out of here" or "This (politician/writer/athlete/actor) sucks, can't believe anyone (listens/watches/pays attention/votes for) him" or similar comments.  Have you ever wondered what it would be like if they all actually got up and left, or at least stopped pestering everyone with their negativity?

Speaking of negativity, there's been more than enough of that over the years as plans were announced and then dropped, and announced and then dropped, and then announced and then almost started but then stalled... Yep, I'm talking about the renovation of the Hotel Syracuse. Well, Negative Nellies, work has been going on in earnest for several weeks, and thanks to the relationship between hometown developer Ed Riley and the local media, we're getting updates on progress on a fairly regular basis. This week, we saw pics from inside the project, including how the lobby is being returned to its former glory, with windows uncovered and access to a balcony restored.  Say 'Nay' if you must, but please, don't be standing in line next March when she reopens - get out of the way and make room for the Yay sayers.

Speaking of making room, looks like both the Dems and the Reps will have to keep making room for more Presidential candidates. Hillary has company, with Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, former Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley and former Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee all mainstream declared candidates. Chafee, has been a mayor and US senator, in addition to being Governor, was once a Republican, became an independent, and a couple of years ago signed on to the Democratic side; he too may need a GPS to find his way home.

On the Republican side, we still don't have Jeb Bush or Scott Walker officially in the race, but we did add Empire Stater George Pataki and South Carolina's Lindsey Graham to the already crowded field.

What do all of these folks have in common? Red, white and blue websites for one, with an easy-to-find 'donate' button. Or, in Sanders' case, a 'contribute' button, which seems somehow more engaging and accessible, as if he wants not only my money but also my opinion. I wonder, does he really? I may have to test that.

Testing. That's what the Rabid Badger, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, is doing to my patience. I told you about his 'lovely' and 'cool' trans-vaginal ultrasounds comment.  This week, he's telling everyone that rape and incest only matter early in a woman's pregnancy.  Walker has announced he'll sign a bill banning abortion after 20 weeks, with no exceptions.  He can do that, if it crosses his desk - but can't his people get him to stop justifying what he's doing by talking about things in ways that show only his cluelessness and insensitivity?

And far be it from me, a middle aged white lady centrist Democrat to call out any of the R's for their lack of sensitivity and their treatment of people.  I'm going to let one of their own do that.  Enter Mary Cheney, daughter of Dubya's puppet master, who took Republicans to task (on their own media network, no less).  In a Fox News editorial, Cheney calls for real support for "individual liberty, personal responsibility, and the belief that strong families are the cornerstone of our society." I wonder if any of them will listen to her? She notes

For years I have listened while Republican candidates talked about the importance of family and the need for our country to support strong families. I wholeheartedly agree. We do need to support families, but that means supporting all families - regardless of which state they live in, how they look or how they are made.

So the next time a Republican presidential candidate wants to talk about the need for our society to support and protect families and children I hope he or she will include all families and all children in that protection - including the hundreds of thousands of children like my son and daughter who are growing up with same-sex parents. 

Oh my. I just happily quoted a Cheney, and I support what she says.  And she said it on Fox News. Where, oh where, I'm wondering, did I put my GPS?

Tuesday's Number: $24,379

Tuesday is the day my local paper, the Syracuse Post-Standard, publishes the weekly business section. In addition to special features, tips from stock experts, budgeting advice and the like, we get the judgment and bankruptcy listings.

Since mid-2012, I’ve been tracking health care related filings. I include anything that is clearly a debt owed to a hospital, nursing home, physician or physician group, medical supplier, and so on; I do not include filings by insurance companies, many of which are so diversified it would not be a fair assumption that the filing is related to medical care or health insurance. 

• This week, there were four new judgments to hospitals, doctors, or other medical providers totaling $44,662.
• There was one satisfied judgment, for $20,283.
• And there were no bankruptcies listed.

By hospital, here’s the breakdown: 

• Crouse had four, totaling $38,861
• SUNY got a credit this week of $20,283.
• St. Joseph’s and Community (part of Upstate), had no filings.

Where’s that SUNY credit come from?  When there are any, I subtract satisfied judgments from the overall totals and from the individual hospital totals; the likelihood is that they’ve already been incorporated into the numbers at some point now, since I’ve been tracking this for two and a half years

A regional healthcare center accounted for the $5,801 difference between the overall total and the local hospital totals. 

The paper publishes only those accounts of at least $5,000.

Throwback Thursday (v1)

Let's go back, this Thursday, to a simpler time.

When men were blissfully unaware of how a woman's body worked, except for two things: "that time of the month" and that a man would put his thingy in her nether region, and he enjoyed it, but only for religious purposes, or of course if the man wanted to assert his husbandly rights.  Men and women slept in separate beds, on television at least, and babies came from storks.

That must be the time where Republican men feel most comfortable.

First we had the one who reminded us that when he grew up, birth control had something to do with holding an aspirin between your knees.  And the guy who wondered if it was possible for a woman to swallow a tiny camera to allow a doctor to see inside her vagina and uterus, similar to how that works to allow a doctor to see a person's colon.  And of course we have all of the different versions of rape, which have been so carefully described by Republicans.

And now, joining them in the simpler time, we have Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. Walker never went to college, we've been told, and there are some who think that should disqualify him from being President.

Me? I think his lack of sense is more disqualifying than his lack of parchment.

Walker blamed the media's 'gotcha' attitude in response to a question about social issues which some declared or exploring Republican presidential candidates (he's one of the latter) seem afraid to address.

And he said this:

I'll give you an example. I'm pro-life, I've passed pro-life legislation. We defunded Planned Parenthood, we signed a law that requires an ultrasound. Which, the thing about that, the media tried to make that sound like that was a crazy idea. Most people I talk to, whether they're pro-life or not, I find people all the time who'll get out their iPhone and show me a picture of their grandkids' ultrasound and how excited they are, so that's a lovely thing. I think about my sons, 19 and 20, you know we still have their first ultrasound picture. It's just a cool thing out there.

Seriously?

First of all, what the hell kind of conversations does Governor Walker have where "most people" he talks to, or "finds" will flash ultrasound pics at him? And does he really think that the one you get where they rub the gel and the wand on a woman's belly is the same as the one where they stick a condom-covered, gel-slathered probe into her vagina?

Ask any woman who has been forced, by a politician, to have a transvaginal ultrasound, and I'm guessing her description of the experience will not include the words "lovely" or "cool" -- no matter what the Rabid Badger believes. Because, when the test is done for medical purposes, as opposed to political purposes, it's usually to diagnose a problem with the fetus, not to add to a grandparent's brag book.

Can't we ask for better?  Please?

Tuesday's Number: $110,415

Tuesday is the day my local paper, the Syracuse Post-Standard, publishes the weekly business section. In addition to special features, tips from stock experts, budgeting advice and the like, we get the judgment and bankruptcy listings.

Since mid-2012, I’ve been tracking health care related filings. I include anything that is clearly a debt owed to a hospital, nursing home, physician or physician group, medical supplier, and so on; I do not include filings by insurance companies, many of which are so diversified it would not be a fair assumption that the filing is related to medical care or health insurance.

• This week, there were five new judgments to hospitals, doctors, or other medical providers totaling $42,666.
• There was one satisfied judgment, for $7,251.
• And there was one bankruptcy listed this week, for $75,000. 

By hospital, here’s the breakdown for this week: 

• Crouse had two, totaling $14,061
• SUNY Upstate added another four, for $89,504
• St. Joseph’s and Community (part of Upstate), had no filings. 

When there are any, I subtract the satisfied judgments from the overall totals and from the individual hospital totals; the likelihood is that they’ve already been incorporated into the numbers at some point now, since I’ve been tracking this for two and a half years. SUNY got the credit this week.

Another regional healthcare center made up the $6,850 difference between the overall total and the local hospital totals. 

The paper publishes only those accounts of at least $5,000.

Wondering, on Wednesday (v31)

Blame it on the medication. I'm wondering, this Wednesday, about simple things.  For example:

Ever get a catalog from a place you would never, even on your worst day, go shopping? And you see the big banner on the cover advising you that "THIS MAY BE YOUR LAST CATALOG" and you thank your lucky stars that you'll never have to see it again?  And then a week later, you get another one from the same place? 

Similarly, credit card debt reduction services, which tell you every single day that this is your last chance to take advantage of their services (which you didn't ask for, don't need, and don't want).  I've tried ignoring them but they keep calling, and I've tried 'pressing 3' to be removed from their call list, and I've even pressed one to 'talk to a person who is standing by to help me.'  When I get through to said person, and they ask how they can help, I explain that I'm an adult, capable of paying my own debts, and would like them to stop calling me. Somehow, saying "please stop calling me" has a direct tie to the disconnect button on their end.  How does that work, I wonder?

Completely different subject (again, blame it on the medication):  Why would the "most effective anti-odor/anti-wetness product you can buy without a prescription" go on wet?  Doesn't that seem counter-intuitive?

I'm having a hard time understanding why I hear from the same Alzheimer's charity several times a month - one week I got four separate mailings from them! I know the charity game is tough, but I can't imagine that any organization can afford this kind of outreach.

And finally, which is more shocking, I wonder -- the fact that George Stephanopoulos donated $75,000 to the Clinton Foundation, or that ABC gave him a $105,000,000 contract? 

That's it for tonight.  

Tuesday's Number: $96,656

Tuesday is the day my local paper, the Syracuse Post-Standard, publishes the weekly business section. In addition to special features, tips from stock experts, budgeting advice and the like, we get the judgment and bankruptcy listings.

Since mid-2012, I've been tracking health care related filings. I include anything that is clearly a debt owed to a hospital, nursing home, physician or physician group, medical supplier, and so on; I do not include filings by insurance companies, many of which are so diversified it would not be a fair assumption that the filing is related to medical care or health insurance.

• This week, there were seven new judgments to hospitals, doctors, or other medical providers totaling $62,922.
• There were no satisfied judgments.
• And there were two bankruptcies listed, totaling $33,734.

By hospital, here’s the breakdown for this week: 

• Crouse had four, totaling $30,094
• St Joseph’s three, for $46,948
• SUNY Upstate added two more, for $19,614
• Community, part of Upstate, had none.

When there are any, I subtract the satisfied judgments from the overall totals and from the individual hospital totals; the likelihood is that they've already been incorporated into the numbers at some point now, since I've been tracking this for two and a half years.

The paper publishes only those accounts of at least $5,000.

Wondering, on Wednesday (v30)

Well, let's see, what do we have tonight?

The New England Patriots were fined $1,000,000 for 'deflategate' and lost a couple of draft picks. Tom Brady was suspended for four 'real games' (meaning, he can play in the pre-season but will sit out the first four games after that), unless he wins on appeal. 

I'm wondering, this Wednesday, what the heck the NFL was thinking? I mean, suspending a QB for four games that matter?  Sheesh.  Don't they know anything about suspending players? 

Look at Major League Baseball. MLB, as we know, suspends pitchers for three or four games for things like throwing fastballs at heads - knowing, when they do this, that the suspended pitcher will almost never miss a game. Why? Because of the rotation that allows them to only pitch after half a week or so of rest between games.  Who woulda thunk that the NFL actually wanted to punish someone?

Brady's appeal, which is almost inevitable, is being met with both support and derision. On the one hand, he didn't actually touch the footballs himself, but apparently put big-league pressure on the locker room staff to the point where they decided to manipulate things to Brady's liking.  And since he wasn't culpable in the act, he shouldn't be suspended, or shouldn't be suspended so harshly, or something.  

On the other hand, there's this sentiment, eloquently expressed by Ian O'Connor (via ESPN):

This isn't Pete Rose gambling on baseball or Lance Armstrong and Alex Rodriguez pumping one illegal drug after another into their bodies for a competitive edge. Brady should tell the public that he thought he was merely driving 63 in a 55 mph zone, that he didn't realize taking some air out of the ball was a big deal, and that he now realizes it is a very big deal. 

He should apologize to (Pats owner Robert) Kraft for lying to him and making the owner look and sound like a fool...He should apologize to (the locker room guys) for putting franchise-player pressure on employees in no position to resist it...and, importantly, to fans everywhere who thought Tom Brady would be among the last quarterbacks to spike the integrity of his sport.

'Franchise-player pressure' is an understandable concept, right? It's the kind of pressure that 'allows' a manager to harass an employee. It's the kind of pressure that 'compels' people to lie for their bosses, or shred documents, or to erase a tape while doing a previously undefined yoga pose, or any of a host of things along those lines.

I don't think, though, that 'franchise player pressure' is what Texas Senator and Republican Presidential Candidate Ted Cruz exerted when he questioned whether the training exercise known as Jade Helm 15 was in fact a cover for an Obama administration military takeover of Texas. (I wondered about a related issue last week). Cruz has been assured by the Pentagon that everything's on the up and up, he said.

I'm wondering, though, how the person at the Pentagon who responded to Cruz's staff on this managed to do it with a straight face. And whether, in the end, the person would really rather have responded with this:

Perhaps, then, you would prefer not an official proclamation but a reasoned answer. As a master debater in college (Princeton, right?), you surely appreciate the reliability of logic, your public statements over the past few years notwithstanding. If you are disinclined to take the United States Armed Forces at their word when we promise no ill intentions towards Texas, then perhaps your considerable and vaunted intellectual powers, which once posited the regrowth of hymens as a guard against unauthorized incursions in domestic affairs, could be swayed by incontrovertible fact. 

That's just one small portion of a hysterical response offered  by "Secretary Ashton Carter" on Huffington Post the other day. I'm sure the Secretary wishes he could get away with saying something like that. Heck, I can think of lots of times I would love to be able to respond like that, can't you?

The post ends with a comment about Cruz being "the rudest Canadian we've ever run across."  And I wonder, is that last point debatable?

Tuesday's Number: $504,053

Tuesday is the day my local paper, the Syracuse Post-Standard, publishes the weekly business section. In addition to special features, tips from stock experts, budgeting advice and the like, we get the judgment and bankruptcy listings.

Since mid-2012, I've been tracking health care related filings. I include anything that is clearly a debt owed to a hospital, nursing home, physician or physician group, medical supplier, and so on; I do not include filings by insurance companies, many of which are so diversified it would not be a fair assumption that the filing is related to medical care or health insurance.

•  This week, there were 26 new judgments to hospitals, doctors, or other medical providers totaling $510,551.
•  There was one satisfied judgment, for $6,498.
•  As is typically the case, there were no bankruptcies listed.

By hospital, here’s the breakdown for this week: 

• Crouse had eleven, for $140,414
• St Joseph’s had two, for $21,608
• SUNY Upstate had thirteen, adding another $335,396
• Community, part of Upstate, had no filings. 

When there are any, I subtract the satisfied judgments from the overall totals and from the individual hospital totals; the likelihood is that they've already been incorporated into the numbers at some point now, since I've been tracking this for two and a half years. Upstate got the $6,498 credit.

A filing on behalf of a local dental practice added another $6,635. 

The paper publishes only those accounts of at least $5,000.

Wondering, on Wednesday (v29)

A whole lot of wondering about foreign affairs going on tonight.  Here goes:

You remember the big to-do when Israel prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu came to chat with his friends in Congress, without the President being involved, while he was in the middle of a big-time fight to win re-election?  And when he made a sharp turn to the right in the last couple days before the vote, declaring that if he stayed in power there would be no Palestinian state, and suddenly his party came out on top? Well, today he managed to pull together his coalition government by the slightest possible margin - one - just before the deadline. So small a margin, so late in the game, and with so many concessions to those on his right flank, many are wondering how long he'll be able to hold things together. And that has me wondering, if I were a Republican running for President, how interested would I be in seeking out Crying John Boehner's support?

"Oh to be in England," as Robert Browning wrote. No, I'm not talking about the news of the birth of Her Royal Highness Charlotte Elizabeth Diana of Cambridge, the newborn daughter of Wills and Kate. Rather, I'm thinking back and wondering, was it really at the end of March that England's Prime Minister David Cameron announced that the British elections would happen a mere 20-some-odd business days later, on May 7th? Can you even imagine the US having that short an election cycle, instead of the almost two-years-in-advance cycle we have?

And with so many folks already in the race on the Republican side -- 15 declared candidates, according to The Politics and Elections Portal - and another seven on the Dem side - we are almost guaranteed to have more people running for President than Britain has days in the campaign.  I have to wonder, are we really better off? (And yes that's a total of 22 declared candidates so far).

One last thing I'm wondering about that, I think, qualifies as a 'foreign' affair: this happened: Texas Governor Greg Abbott ordered the Texas National Guard to 'monitor' a joint training exercise of the Navy Seals and Green Berets, because, some folks thought, President Obama was going to take over Texas.

Now some of us might think that this is outlandish and out there, but it was so serious that even Walmart had to issue a statement stating that tunnels were not being built under their stores as part of the grand scheme, according to reports. I kid you not.

And I'm left wondering, does anyone doubt that Walmart would almost have to be involved for any takeover of this sort to be successful?

Tuesday's Number: $275,039

Tuesday is the day my local paper, the Syracuse Post-Standard, publishes the weekly business section. In addition to special features, tips from stock experts, budgeting advice and the like, we get the judgment and bankruptcy listings.

Since mid-2012, I've been tracking health care related filings. I include anything that is clearly a debt owed to a hospital, nursing home, physician or physician group, medical supplier, and so on; I do not include filings by insurance companies, many of which are so diversified it would not be a fair assumption that the filing is related to medical care or health insurance. 

• This week, there were nineteen new judgments to hospitals, doctors, or other medical providers totaling $275,039. 
• There were no satisfied judgments or bankruptcies listed. 

By hospital, here’s the breakdown for this week: 

• Crouse had one, for $59,346
• St Joseph’s had one, for $12,638
• SUNY Upstate added another seventeen, totaling $203,055
• Community, part of Upstate, had no filings. 

When there are any, I subtract the satisfied judgments from the overall totals and from the individual hospital totals; the likelihood is that they've already been incorporated into the numbers at some point now, since I've been tracking this for two and a half years.  

The paper publishes only those accounts of at least $5,000.

The Metaphorical Garden

Rarely have I been more grateful for my garden than I have been in the past few weeks. 

No, the beds are not gorgeous and in full bloom – quite the opposite. After a long winter, there’s always much to do, and this year there’s a little more than usual as most of them seem in need of intensive rehabilitation. We're having the house painted this year, so I may have to move some of the foundation plants at least temporarily, and that's adding to the planning, even if not to the actual work. I’m dozens of hours into it, full weekends and some nights after work when the weather cooperates, with more to do.

My hands ache. My knees are sore, even with my fancy knee pads. My back is tired. I've worn almost through the fingertips on my new gloves, leading to frequent bouts of, well, let’s say somewhat colorful language when something gets in under my nail.  The pile of yard waste that will go to the city's compost program is about the size of a Fiat. I have allergies, I think. 

And I am grateful.

I’m grateful because, while I’m in my garden, I’m fighting to define the boundaries of yard and flower bed, and working to free the tender perennials from the grip of the weeds that so carefully and deviously surround them, or grow right on top of them, as happens with my irises. I try to remember where everything grew last year, where things thrived, so I can make sure they have a happy and healthy home this year. It's tricky; some of the late bloomers haven’t even begun to wake up from their winter’s rest. 

I contemplate the monarda, marching across the beds, and question whether I could possibly turn it into a cash crop. I look for the columbine, a vigorous self-sower which seems to be in short supply this year. And I check on the wisteria and the beauty bush, hoping they are strong enough to bounce back again. I struggle with what to do with the unruly and no longer ornamental grasses, some of which have already been relegated to the back garden.  Is that where the rest of them will spend their days, in Mikey's Meadow?

I worry about the woodchucks and bunnies that might (no, will inevitably) come to dinner in my urban front yard, and what will tickle their fancy this time, as it seems to change each year. Will they covet my coneflowers again? Or, will their palate yearn for poppies or blue flax, or maybe my phlox?  I've kept the fences on the hollyhocks, a perennial favorite, if you will, but there’s always so much for the little devils to pick from, so many tasty young plants that are so hard to resist. I need to have a plan.

And I wonder how I can possibly keep everything safe and not have the garden look like a war zone, how I can have it look the way it's supposed to, full of colors and textures, without its beauty being encumbered by fence and netting.

Even with all of that, I’m grateful. 

The hours I've spent in the garden are hours I've been able to work out my frustrations on why we have such a hard time getting our collective arms around the concept of equality and equal opportunity, and around the concept that all lives matter:  black and white and brown and yellow and red ones, and all of the colors in between.  Lives wearing police uniforms and lives wearing police jumpsuits, or hoodies, or even the god-awful hideous sagging pants. Lives wrapped in a rainbow flag, and lives of those who would chase rainbows looking for a pot of gold. Lives of ‘the believers’ and of those who believe something else entirely, or in nothing at all.  

What a mess we can make of things, and yet what an opportunity we have, I think while I’m out there in the fresh air, working on my garden melting pot.

And I've made progress, according to the guy riding by on his bike yesterday, who shouted an encouraging “keep up the good work, the garden’s coming along!” and the young woman giving a piggy-back ride to a child who made a point to remind me “I think I told you last year too, but I love your garden, it always makes me smile.”  Or one of the littlest who whispered “pretty flowers, Mommy!” as his family walked by, pointing shyly at the white and yellow daffodils, the grape hyacinths, and the miniature tulips in the bed closest to the sidewalk.

Yes, I’m surely grateful.  And it’s time to get back out there. 

My Middle-Aged White Lady Perspective: Don't Apologize for the Truth

Gleefully stealing an armload of Doritos is not something you do to protest the inexplicable death of a young man in police custody. Nope -- stealing several bags of Doritos and dancing down the street with a bunch of other looters is something you do when you're an idiot, taking advantage of a bad situation and making it worse. It's something you do when you basically don't give a rat about anything other than yourself. 

Leaders of the Baltimore community calling out the looters and trouble-makers for looting and making trouble was the right thing to do, because that behavior completely disrespects the memory of the person who died in police custody and it completely disrespects his family who asked that people take a day off so that they could mourn and celebrate and bury their family member. 

Calling them out is important, because no matter what anyone hopes, the miscreants will get all of the attention, and their behavior will overshadow peaceful protests aimed at the people who must know (but aren't yet saying) why Freddie Gray ended up with a severed spine, and it will overshadow members of the Baltimore community, clergy and others, who put themselves between the rioters and the police, who tried to protect property and people, who did the right thing. We'll hear less about them because of the bad actors.  

Apologizing a day later for calling these folks out does a disservice to everyone who is protesting on purpose, with purpose, for a purpose. Community leaders should do better; communities deserve better from their leaders. 

Lots of folks have lots of reasons for why stuff happens like it did in Ferguson, and like it did in Baltimore and like it does in other places when something happens like the death of Michael Brown or the death of Freddie Gray. It stems, we're told,  from long-standing practices of abuse or brutality or economic injustice or gangs or lack of father figures or lack of opportunity or lack of hope or having to check a box on a job application that you've got a criminal record, or a lack of self-respect, or a bad upbringing, or mental health or drug and alcohol issues or a bad education.

But none of it comes from a lack of Doritos.

Tuesday's Number: $214,513

Tuesday is the day my local paper, the Syracuse Post-Standard, publishes the weekly business section. In addition to special features, tips from stock experts, budgeting advice and the like, we get the judgment and bankruptcy listings.

Since mid-2012, I've been tracking health care related filings. I include anything that is clearly a debt owed to a hospital, nursing home, physician or physician group, medical supplier, and so on; I do not include filings by insurance companies, many of which are so diversified it would not be a fair assumption that the filing is related to medical care or health insurance. 

• This week, there were thirteen new judgments to hospitals, doctors, or other medical providers totaling $223,250.
• There was one satisfied judgment, for $8,737.
• And there were no health care related bankruptcies.

I also track filings for each of the four Syracuse hospitals. Here’s the breakdown for this week: 

• Crouse had six, for $39,819
• St Joseph’s gets a credit of $8,737
• SUNY Upstate added six, for $183,431
• Community, part of Upstate, had no filings.

How does St Joe's get a credit? When there are any, I subtract the satisfied judgments from the overall totals and from the individual hospital totals; the likelihood is that they've already been incorporated into the numbers at some point now, since I've been tracking this for two and a half years.  

The paper publishes only those accounts of at least $5,000.

Wondering, on Wednesday (v28)

Have you heard the news coming from the New York State Fair?  

We’re learning from officials that somewhere around 20 offers had been put out for Grandstand acts for the 12-day run of the Fair this fall, and only one – country star Eric Church – has been booked. According to the Fair people, there are two reasons we’re having a problem: the short run of the Fair, and the high cost of acts that are on the road. The threat is that there may be only one Grandstand performer this year, which would hurt the fair almost as much as booking acts that only draw a couple thousand people at the 17,000 seat venue.  (Carly Rae Jepson, anyone?) 

I'm wondering, on this Wednesday, how this news impacts plans for the OnPhitheater being built across the street from the Fairgrounds, which has a commitment to hold a concert during the Fair this year, and which will replace the Grandstand going forward. Remember, we were originally told that the OnPhitheater would complement but not replace the Grandstand, and as we all suspected, it is of course going to be the pay-for concert venue for the Fair.

And unless someone's thinking about extending the Fair beyond the traditional 12 days, won’t we have the same problem going forward? And does anyone think prices will be going down anytime soon, particularly when the OnPhitheater will be in competition with other upstate outdoor venues and casinos, making it a musician's market not a venue market? 

Here's one more thing I'm wondering about. Remember the big darn deal that was made when it was announced that Billy Joel would be playing his 400th show at the Carrier Dome? Wasn't it the same promoter who announced at the same time that Buffalo would be getting multiple Garth Brooks shows? And even more Garth shows were added based on ticket sales? Is there something we're missing here? 

Speaking of missing things, I hope you caught the news from the Upstate Freshwater Institute and that we can safely swim at the north end of Onondaga Lake? It's true, they say: the water is clear enough, and the bacteria levels are low enough, for swimming.  We're still not able to eat the fish, but as far as taking a dip, we're good.

And so now County Executive Joanie Mahoney is thinking we could have a study to see about building a beach up at the Liverpool end of the lake. Are you wondering, like I am, how long it will take before we'll have another JoAndrew bus tour, where Mahoney and our Sonofa Governor can get all of the old  Onondaga Lake plans dusted off? Maybe we'll see another pile of taxpayer dollars dropped into the area?

I mean, our Garth-loving friends have the Buffalo Billion, we might as well have OnMillions, right? 

Tuesday's Number: $509,973

Tuesday is the day my local paper, the Syracuse Post-Standard, publishes the weekly business section. In addition to special features, tips from stock experts, budgeting advice and the like, we get the judgment and bankruptcy listings.

Since mid-2012, I've been tracking health care related filings. I include anything that is clearly a debt owed to a hospital, nursing home, physician or physician group, medical supplier, and so on; I do not include filings by insurance companies, many of which are so diversified it would not be a fair assumption that the filing is related to medical care or health insurance. 

• This week, there were 29 new judgments to hospitals, doctors, or other medical providers totaling $502,251.
•  There were no satisfied judgments.
•  And there was one health care related bankruptcy, for $7,722.

I also track filings for each of the four Syracuse hospitals. Here’s the breakdown for this week: 

• Crouse had seven, for $60,339
• St Josephs had two, totaling $16,304
• SUNY Upstate added 20, for $398,105
• Community, part of Upstate, had no filings.

There was one judgment for another medical provider totaling $35,225 which makes up the balance.

When there are any,  I subtract the satisfied judgments from the overall totals and from the individual hospital totals; the likelihood is that they've already been incorporated into the numbers at some point now, since I've been tracking this for two and a half years.  

The paper publishes only those accounts of at least $5,000.

Making Lemonade

A million times, I think I've heard the old saying "when life hands you lemons, make lemonade."  Well, I think we have a chance to do that.

Below is the email I sent to the Home Builders & Remodelers of CNY, Mayor Miner's office, and Common Councilor Helen Hudson, asking them to consider tackling a 'rebuild' project in Syracuse this fall, since the Parade of Homes has to be postponed until next summer.

The article mentions that the HBR is looking into doing some other event, and I hope they'll consider my idea (or part of it, or something similar).  After all, among the objectives of the organization is this:

to bring together the best and most reliable industry associated businesses, for the purpose of raising the bar of professionalism and customer service, and moving towards the goal of affordable housing for everyone in CNY. 

I have long maintained that a Parade of Homes in the city, not with brand new houses, but with a similar economic investment, could completely transform a neighborhood.  Pulling together all of the many resources available here, from the HBR to the Land Bank  to the myriad branches of government and even local organizations and businesses would be a challenge, but the reward - a renewed neighborhood, increased tax base, and a chance for existing homeowners to benefit as well - should be worth it.

Here's hoping that this time, with a basket full of lemons, we get enough lemonade to go around.

I read on Syracuse.com this evening the unfortunate news that this fall's Parade of Homes at Cranebrook is being delayed until next summer because site work could not be completed timely. 

 As we know, many people look forward to the Parade each year, most for decorating but some for the opportunity to get their dream home. And I know the charities that staff the volunteers for each of the Parade homes may also feel the pinch with the delay. 

Appreciating that, I would say that while this is a setback, perhaps it's also an opportunity to follow the old adage and make some lemonade out of lemons.

 Could this be the chance we've been waiting for to connect the HBRCNY and the City of Syracuse, not in traditional 'Parade' sense, but through a blitz rebuild Parade?  A chance of a lifetime for an urban neighborhood?  A chance for people to shine who usually don't get the spotlight? 

I encourage you to read my blog post on having a Parade of Homes in the city -- not on the outskirts of the city limits, but smack dab in the heart of the city, in a city neighborhood that could use some help and attention. A neighborhood like Skunk City. 

I think this could be a great opportunity, with the creativity, energy, and know-how that the Home Builders, City Hall, and Common Council can bring to the table.  

Thanks for your consideration.  

Stay tuned.

Tuesday's Number $674,128

Tuesday is the day my local paper, the Syracuse Post-Standard, publishes the weekly business section. In addition to special features, tips from stock experts, budgeting advice and the like, we get the judgment and bankruptcy listings.

Since mid-2012, I've been tracking health care related filings. I include anything that is clearly a debt owed to a hospital, nursing home, physician or physician group, medical supplier, and so on; I do not include filings by insurance companies, many of which are so diversified it would not be a fair assumption that the filing is related to medical care or health insurance.

• This week, there were sixteen new judgments to hospitals, doctors, or other medical providers totaling $683,180.
• There was one satisfied judgment, for $9,052.
• And there were no health care related bankruptcies.

I also track filings for each of the four Syracuse hospitals. Here’s the breakdown for this week:

•  Crouse had four, for $8,624
• St Josephs had none
• SUNY Upstate added eleven, for $650,623
• Community, part of Upstate, also had no filings.

There were two judgments for medical groups which totaled $14,881, making up the balance.

Crouse’s total includes a $9,052 ‘credit’ for the satisfied judgments. I subtract the satisfied judgments from the overall totals and from the individual hospital totals; the likelihood is that they've already been incorporated into the numbers at some point now, since I've been tracking this for two and a half years.  

And, this week, we have the largest filing ever since I've tracked the Numbers: a single judgment for SUNY Upstate was $400,617. I shudder to think of being in that family's shoes.

The paper publishes only those accounts of at least $5,000.

Wondering, on Wednesday (v27)

I had a few interesting conversations with friends this week below are recaps of a couple of them.

One friend's husband has his own business and has a few employees. We got talking about her heading off to meet with their accountant to get their taxes done.  And of course that got us on the whole file-early-or-wait- until-the-last-minute decision, and how we all feel we pay too much. She mentioned that, to solve that last problem, one of her husband's employees mentioned that he and his wife are going to have another child, so they get the benefit of another deduction.  That would be their seventh child.

I'm wondering, this Wednesday, how many times I've heard or seen someone mention all those welfare people popping out kids to get benefits? A hundred? Five hundred? A thousand?  I can't begin to count them all -- but I do think this is one of only a handful of times I've heard anyone talk about non-welfare people doing exactly the same thing for exactly the same reason.

I've talked about it before, such as in this post from last January, written in response to Rand Paul's thoughts on capping benefits for folks on welfare and not increasing them if another child arrives. I asked then, and I ask now (as my friend did the other day) why we reward anyone who does this?  And I'm also wondering, if Senator Paul would be willing to address both the working extra-baby-makers and the welfare extra-baby-makers at the same time?  I doubt it.

I had a conversation with another friend who's getting ready to send her first-born to college. As is the case with many parents, she's feeling mixed emotions, and not just about her baby leaving the nest. She and her husband both are long-time employees at their respective companies, have worked hard to save money for college (and for a rainy day), and are trying to navigate their way through the mess that is the financial nightmare of higher education.

She ran a scenario by me that I had never really thought of before, one I had not heard mentioned before:

Why is it that we are bombarded with ads offering multi-year loans for tens of thousands of dollars for a car, with zero percent interest, and yet we expect parents to pay somewhere north of seven percent for a college loan?  Aren't we encouraging exactly the wrong behavior here?

Well, yes, it seems, yes we are.

And think about college endowments. Here's a snapshot of schools with the largest endowment per student, as well as those with the largest endowments total.   Harvard has the largest endowment, over $35B in 2014, up $10B compared to 2005.  Princeton takes the cake in the per-student endowment, at $1.857M each, for their 7567 students.

Even the most die-hard alum must be wondering what their alma mater could possibly do with all of that money, when folks like my friend struggle to figure out the best way to pay for college, save for a rainy day, and plan to still have a life when she and her husband are empty-nesters in a few years, or hoping to retire a few years after that.

I'm wondering how anyone can look at this and not wish there was an equitable way to get kids the education that everyone says they need to be successful in life.

Maybe Rand Paul and Ted Cruz can work on this as they work on winning the White House.

Tuesday's Number: $490,796

Tuesday is the day my local paper, the Syracuse Post-Standard, publishes the weekly business section. In addition to special features, tips from stock experts, budgeting advice and the like, we get the judgment and bankruptcy listings.

Since mid-2012, I've been tracking health care related filings. I include anything that is clearly a debt owed to a hospital, nursing home, physician or physician group, medical supplier, and so on; I do not include filings by insurance companies, many of which are so diversified it would not be a fair assumption that the filing is related to medical care or health insurance. 

• This week, there were seventeen new judgments to hospitals, doctors, or other medical providers totaling $292,895. 
• There were no satisfied judgments.
• And there were eight health care related bankruptcies, totaling $197,901.

I also track filings for each of the four Syracuse hospitals. Here’s the breakdown for this week: 

• Crouse had twelve, for $200,706
• St Josephs had seven, totaling $146,938
• SUNY Upstate added six, for $143,152
• Community, part of Upstate, had no filings.

When there are any, I subtract the satisfied judgments from the overall total and from the individual hospital totals; the likelihood is that they've already been incorporated into the numbers at some point now, since I've been tracking this for two and a half years. 

The paper publishes only those accounts of at least $5,000.

An Easter Message

Easter sunrise, 2015/veritablepastiche

Today is a day of celebration for some, a deeply religious holiday for those who celebrate that The Son is risen. For others, it's a 'normal' day, filled with content that the sun has risen.

For me, being in the latter half of that equation, Easter Sunday has always been a day of family, food and laughter, with heavy emphasis on the laughter part, certainly while my Dad was alive, and we have done well to keep that going since he's been gone.

When we were kids, we colored eggs, and had our Easter egg hunts, searching high and low for the ones we had colored and the coveted plastic ones with coins or jelly beans inside them.  I can picture my brothers, one and two years older than me, and taller, wandering around the house on Easter morning, checking things out, making mental notes of where the good ones were. My oldest brother had a way of tilting his head and raising an eyebrow when he saw a treasure waiting in what I'm sure Mom and Dad thought was a particularly good hiding place.

I also remember us getting chided by my Dad, for doing reconnaissance before he and Mom got up, for trying to take more than our fair share, not playing well together, and so on.

Even though we stopped going to church when we were young, around nine or ten I think, there was always an expectation  that we would 'behave' appropriately.  Not just from a discipline perspective, such as riding your bike into the charcoal grill (me), or succumbing to peer pressure and shoplifting (me), or playing with matches (NOT me), or a classic, 'spelling' bad words by writing 7734 upside-down (yeah that was me again), but from the larger perspective too.

You did not need to go to church, you did not need to believe that Christ died on the cross, or in the Resurrection, or in the rest of it, to understand that treating people fairly and with respect was the right thing to do, that taking everything you saw or could get your hands on and leaving others with nothing was the wrong thing to do, that being mean and calling people names or picking on people who were 'different' was not acceptable, or that being charitable, even to your annoying little sister, was the better path to take.

Surely, we did not learn these lessons perfectly, sometimes to the chagrin of my Methodist mom and my non-religious Dad, but I suspect they hadn't learned the lessons perfectly either. My Dad never met a dumb blond joke he didn't like, for example, and never missed an episode of All in the Family, but made sure that 'Polack' jokes became 'Peter, Andy and Susan' jokes.  They never stopped trying - and never stopped encouraging us, through word and deed, to keep trying as well, not because there'll be a place for us in Heaven if we do, but because our place on Earth can be better for the effort.

And that's where we are today, some 45 or 50 years later. Our collective place on Earth can be better for the effort, for the simple wisdom that we were taught when we were kids:

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. 

Let's not do things to others in the name of our religious beliefs or our politics that we would not willingly accept if done to us by others in the name of their religious beliefs or their politics.

Let's not be the reason why, in what is arguably the greatest democracy in the history of the world, we need to have laws on the books reminding us that we cannot discriminate against others based on their

race, color, religion, ancestry, age, national origin, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identify, or United States military service

This doesn't mean that we can't find things distasteful, or that we have to like everyone, or that our circle of friends needs to look like a Target ad or an Applebee's commercial or the stock photos we see in our company's publications, or that we have to agree with everyone on everything, or even that we have to understand everyone else.

After all, we are not perfect, and I don't think (for believers or non-believers) that perfection is the expectation. But can we strive to do better, be more accepting, more tolerant, more forgiving, more understanding?

Make room. Do unto others.

Happy Easter.

Wondering, on Wednesday (v26)

Think about your family and friends, coworkers, people you see on the bus or in the liquor store or at the dry cleaners or at a concert or at one of your children's school plays or athletic competitions or at the gym. Or church. 

Think of your Facebook friends, and Instagram or Twitter followers. Think about politicians and preachers and news reporters and actors and actresses and studio heads and motor heads and radio heads and talking heads. Think about rappers and crooners and twangers and cellists and drummers and color guard participants and criminals and jurors and homeless people and the people who help them.

Think about your parents and grandparents and people you knew in college or high school or elementary school. Or the bank teller or the kid at the register or the guy stocking the toilet paper at the grocery store or the car salesman or the phone survey person who calls you during dinner. 

And for all of the people you see and come into contact with every day wherever you spend your time, or do whatever it is you do (knowing that what you 'do' is practice your religion 24/7/365), tell me if at any time you have felt compelled to advise any of those people that your religious beliefs prevent you from engaging with them.

And then picture yourself being on the receiving end of this constant practice of religion whereby you cannot be served by someone else, based on how you look or sound or your actions or your faith or lack thereof.

I'm wondering, on this Wednesday, whether you'll say it feels more like freedom or more like discrimination.